<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>In 2013, Mark Cuban, the team owner of Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA), announced that he would consider selecting female basketball player Brittney Griner to play for his professional men’s team. Within 24 hours after ESPN posted an online article reporting Mark Cuban’s statement, 921 online comments were posted in response. This study analyzes these comments to investigate the pervasive sexism and gender discrimination found in online sporting news arenas. It investigates how Brittney Griner’s sex, gender, and athletic ability became subjects of scrutiny and debate in these online comments and how discriminatory comments about Griner were routinely extended to all female athletes and to women even outside of sport. By examining the online backlash against Mark Cuban’s proposal, this paper investigates the maintenance of sex segregation in professional sport and the systemic devaluing of female athletes and privileging of male athletes that upholds it.</p></abstract>

In 2013, Mark Cuban, the team owner of Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA), announced that he would consider selecting female basketball player Brittney Griner to play for his professional men’s team. Within 24 hours after ESPN posted an online article reporting Mark Cuban’s statement, 921 online comments were posted in response. This study analyzes these comments to investigate the pervasive sexism and gender discrimination found in online sporting news arenas. It investigates how Brittney Griner’s sex, gender, and athletic ability became subjects of scrutiny and debate in these online comments and how discriminatory comments about Griner were routinely extended to all female athletes and to women even outside of sport. By examining the online backlash against Mark Cuban’s proposal, this paper investigates the maintenance of sex segregation in professional sport and the systemic devaluing of female athletes and privileging of male athletes that upholds it.

Cyber Backlash and the Maintenance of Sex Segregation in Professional Sport

Lakehead University Orillia, 1 Colborne St W, Orillia, ON L3V 5J2, Ontario, Canada

Trent University, 1600 W Bank Dr, Peterborough, ON K9J 7B8, Ontario, Canada

Gender Studies

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"Cyber Backlash and the Maintenance of Sex Segregation in Professional Sport"}

In 2013, Mark Cuban, the team owner of Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA), announced that he would consider selecting female...

Cyber Backlash and the Maintenance of Sex Segregation in Professional Sport

Published Online: Feb 29, 2016

Page range: 171 - 189

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/genst-2016-0011

Keywords
Gender, Gender Resistance, sexism, sport, Unobtrusive Research

© 2015 Curtis A. Fogel et al., published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Cyber Backlash and the Maintenance of Sex Segregation in Professional Sport

Published Online: Feb 29, 2016

Page range: 171 - 189

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/genst-2016-0011

KeywordsGender, Gender Resistance, sexism, sport, Unobtrusive Research

© 2015 Curtis A. Fogel et al., published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
Gender, Gender Resistance, sexism, sport, Unobtrusive Research